Borneo 2

I'm waiting patiently,    I've heard on the vine that some  "old geezer"  is arriving today  !!

Towards  Camp Leakey :

We had moored the klotok overnight in the middle of nowhere tied to overhanging branches front and back.

( Sorry,   fore and aft  !! )

The dawn chorus here is something special.  It seems like every living thing in the forest is saying good morning.
(Probably just grateful to have survived and still be alive  !)  

From the bowels of the boat Seeti has conjured up an early (6am) breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee.

Then we continue the journey up the Sekonyar river towards Camp Leakey.

Up until now the river has been quite wide and
a  (not unpleasant )  chocolate brown colour.
Apparently due to upstream gold mining activity.

After a couple of hours the river divides.

We take the right fork staying in the National Park
and our river becomes much narrower.

The water reverts to a pure, clean, shiny coal black colour,
the surface is like a mirror and the reflections are fantastic.


And the rainforest feels like it's closing in on us


Finally we arrive at Camp Leakey




Having watched so many documentaries about this place I'm having to pinch myself to believe I'm actually here !

Boardwalk over the swamps

B. Galdikas house

Main research hut

Off the boardwalk now and a trek into the rainforest.



There are lots of surface tree roots and it can be a bit tricky underfoot.








The forest becomes quite dense in places

But it's not too long before we have company.

Actually, I think
the Tina Turner hairdo
is quite fetching  !!

And this is probably Dad.  The first adult male I've seen.

He arrived spectacularly with swaying trees and crashing branches.
The huge cheek pads are a sign of sexual maturity and they also assist projection of the voice.
They work a bit like a megaphone, so that his booming calls can be much louder and heard  further away.
And naturally,  to impress  ......  well, he certainly impressed me !!

By the way, the sound of an Orangutan call is unforgettable.  You just know that whoever made that noise ... is the boss !!

Not everything in the jungle is quite so big.

And not everything is up in the trees.

This innocuous looking hole in the ground is actually the entrance to a Tarantula nest !!

The grey/white around the hole is the residue of it's web.







Concentrate on the centre of the photo's below  ( it's the same tree ) and you see what looks like a small twig or branch from the tree.



This is actually a bees' nest.  They find a hollow in a tree to make their nest and then, using saliver, they build up the entrance tube.
They make it look like part of the tree but,  more importantly, only they can get in and out. you can just see one on the edge.
Predators, particularly the Sun Bear (who loves honey !), can't get at them.

Left : A termite nest

Right : A tree when they have finished

In  just 2 years a colony of termites like this one can kill a tree that may be 50 years old.




The video shows them at their busy work !